After three years living on the streets of Brazil, it was clear that João Coelho Guimarães was in desperate need of a makeover. His beard was scraggly and his hair long and knotted. In a way, both messes of hair almost flowed together. It was hard to tell where each of them began and ended. However, no one blamed the man — it was expected.
When you are busy just trying to meet the basic necessities of life, appearances are often one of the first things to go.
Yet, throughout his long struggle with homelessness, Guimarães never let his spirits get too low, even saying hello to the employees of a local barbershop as he passed by daily.
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It was the simple offer of a free haircut that ended up changing his life.
“Every day, Mr. João Coelho passed in front of the Padoo men’s fashion store picking up cans,” the business wrote on Instagram.
One afternoon, he walked in the front of the store to say hello, business owner Alessandro Lobo told Universo Online.
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They thought that Guimarães was coming in to ask for money or food.
However, he had a different thing on his mind.
“We asked if he was hungry and wanted something to eat. But he refused and asked if we had a razor so he could trim his beard,” said Lobo.
His only request was to borrow a razor in order to trim himself up. He had been sporting a scraggly beard for way too long. Just check out this picture from ten years ago for proof.
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However, after hearing the man’s story, the employees decided to do something even nicer.
“That was when we had the idea, and everyone in the store decided to help in a different way, providing a day of beauty for him.”
They cut, trimmed, and shampooed their way to a tremendous transformation. Each of the employees offered up their assistance, and the end result was nothing short of spectacular.
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They even hooked him up with some stylish new clothes.
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By the time the makeover was over, Guimarães looked like a completely different man.
“I didn’t want to get into the question of why he left home,” said Lobo. “He must have his reasons, but our intention was just to give him a little dignity at that moment.”
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However, the best part of the whole act of kindness was yet to come.
The business posted some beautiful before and after pictures of the makeover online, not thinking too much of it, but after the post started going viral, everything changed.
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Guimarães’s family saw the pictures and couldn’t believe it.
His family hadn’t seen him in over ten years and was sure that he was dead. They thought that he had long since passed on, but there he was, alive, well, and looking surprisingly stylish too!
Here is a video of the sister thanking the employees:
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His mother and sister reached out to the business in an attempt to track him down.
Since Guimarães doesn’t have a set address, Lobo offered to take the two women through the neighborhood to see if they could locate him.
“It is Christmas time and the intention was to show that with little we can change someone’s life. That we have to do good without looking at who. We did not imagine that it would have this repercussion,” said Lobo.
The photos and videos of the reunion that happened shortly after will melt your heart.
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The family never would have recognized their long lost sibling before the haircut.
Too much time had passed since they had last seen each other. However, thanks to the makeover and the viral social media post, the family was once again made whole again.
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Lobo explained that Guimarães was a man of “few words”, and had a rather shy demeanor. The employees didn’t feel it was their place to asked how Guimarães had ended up on the street. Their only concern was making sure that he was well taken care of during this holiday season.
Check out a video below showing some more clips from Guimarães’s makeover and reunion.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
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